Assessment of Contrast Enhancement Boost for the Direct Identification of Pulmonary Emboli in Thoracic CT Angiography

Assessment of Contrast Enhancement Boost for the Direct Identification of Pulmonary Emboli in Thoracic CT Angiography

Pulmonary embolism is a common cardiovascular disease and thoracic CT angiography is currently considered the gold standard for its non-invasive diagnosis. However, the diagnostic performance of CT angiography can be hampered by an insufficient enhancement of pulmonary arteries. Contrast Enhancement Boost (CE Boost) is a post-processing technique using an iodine density map to artificially improve pulmonary artery enhancement.

This retrospective study compares standard CT-angiography images with CE Boost images to assess the potential improvement of diagnostic performance for the detection of pulmonary embolism.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patient who underwent thoracic CT angiography for suspicion of pulmonary embolism in our institution between March and June 2018

Exclusion Criteria:

• None